Where every SEC team ranks after Week 10 in ESPN’s updated SP+ rankings
By Keith Farner
Published:
With a slew of bye weeks, there wasn’t much change in the SP+ rankings this week following Week 10 action.
“Minnesota beat Bye well enough to hop Auburn and Michigan by decimal points to 10th, and that was about it,” Bill Connelly wrote on ESPN.com. “Last week’s rankings are, for the most part, this week’s.”
Six SEC teams are in the top 20, as the SP+ rankings largely mirror the mainstream human polls.
The LSU-Alabama game this week will get plenty of attention, with SEC Network’s “SEC Nation” and ESPN’s “College GameDay” both attending, But the Penn State-Minnesota game will also draw some eyes for a potential shakeup in the top 10.
Here’s how the SEC teams are ranked (overall ranking in parentheses):
1. Alabama (2)
2. LSU (3)
3. Georgia (6)
4. Auburn (12)
5. Florida (13)
6. Texas A&M (20)
7. Missouri (23)
8. South Carolina (38)
9. Mississippi State (39)
10. Tennessee (42)
11. Ole Miss (54)
12. Kentucky (56)
13. Arkansas (100)
14. Vanderbilt (104)
Here’s Connelly’s description of the ranking system:
What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing. That is important to remember. It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system is. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
